MBB: Little East

[7express]

Eastern & Keene having 3 of remaining 4 at home definitely give them a big advantage.  As mentioned previously last week Western has really screwed themselves.  Of their remaining 4 games, 3 are on the road, with the 1 home game being a team they lost to earlier in the year.

[AllStar]

Wednesday, 2/8:
ECSU 94, WCSU 55
KSC 88, PSU 61
UMD 84, RIC 66
UMB 60, USM 57

[7express]

Nothing surprising on Wednesday: Eastern beat Western, Dartmouth beat RIC, Keene beat Plymouth & Boston beat USM.  The top 3 of Keene, Eastern & Dartmouth have already clinched home games for the quarterfinals because the rest of the league completely stinks!  Boston at 5-6 is currently leading the way for the last spot in the quarterfinals.  Much like on the women's side where there's 2 great teams (Dartmouth, Eastern), 1 good team (Keene) and 2 OK teams (Western & Boston) with the other 3 teams (RIC, USM & Plymouth) being awful the men's side has the same parity: 1 great team (Eastern) 2 good teams (Dartmouth & Keene), and than 5 average teams (Boston, Western, Plymouth, RIC, USM).  Like on the women's side where the bottom 3 teams aren't beating the top 3, and I don't think 4 or 5 are beating the top 3 either, the bottom 5 on the men's side probably aren't beating any of the top 3 either.  Like the women's field, the men's LEC tournament looks to be highly chalky with a lot of uninteresting & boring games, with the only likely close games being the 4/5 game (whoever that may be), the 2/3 Keene/Dartmouth semifinal, and than Keene/Dartmouth vs. Eastern in the finals.

[AllStar]

Nothing surprising on Wednesday: Eastern beat Western, Dartmouth beat RIC, Keene beat Plymouth & Boston beat USM.  The top 3 of Keene, Eastern & Dartmouth have already clinched home games for the quarterfinals because the rest of the league completely stinks!  Boston at 5-6 is currently leading the way for the last spot in the quarterfinals.  Much like on the women's side where there's 2 great teams (Dartmouth, Eastern), 1 good team (Keene) and 2 OK teams (Western & Boston) with the other 3 teams (RIC, USM & Plymouth) being awful the men's side has the same parity: 1 great team (Eastern) 2 good teams (Dartmouth & Keene), and than 5 average teams (Boston, Western, Plymouth, RIC, USM).  Like on the women's side where the bottom 3 teams aren't beating the top 3, and I don't think 4 or 5 are beating the top 3 either, the bottom 5 on the men's side probably aren't beating any of the top 3 either.  Like the women's field, the men's LEC tournament looks to be highly chalky with a lot of uninteresting & boring games, with the only likely close games being the 4/5 game (whoever that may be), the 2/3 Keene/Dartmouth semifinal, and than Keene/Dartmouth vs. Eastern in the finals.

Although it doesn't look like it, Keene would be alone in first if they could have beaten bottom-feeders RIC and Southern Maine.  What utterly horrendous losses those are...they are hamstringing them significantly.  I'm surprised they blew past Plymouth tonight to be honest...after Saturday, I didn't even think they'd win.  Like my new graphics?     I found a new toy...might as well fool around.

[7express]

I love the graphics!

[ECSUalum]

Nothing surprising on Wednesday: Eastern beat Western, Dartmouth beat RIC, Keene beat Plymouth & Boston beat USM.  The top 3 of Keene, Eastern & Dartmouth have already clinched home games for the quarterfinals because the rest of the league completely stinks!  Boston at 5-6 is currently leading the way for the last spot in the quarterfinals.  Much like on the women's side where there's 2 great teams (Dartmouth, Eastern), 1 good team (Keene) and 2 OK teams (Western & Boston) with the other 3 teams (RIC, USM & Plymouth) being awful the men's side has the same parity: 1 great team (Eastern) 2 good teams (Dartmouth & Keene), and than 5 average teams (Boston, Western, Plymouth, RIC, USM).  Like on the women's side where the bottom 3 teams aren't beating the top 3, and I don't think 4 or 5 are beating the top 3 either, the bottom 5 on the men's side probably aren't beating any of the top 3 either.  Like the women's field, the men's LEC tournament looks to be highly chalky with a lot of uninteresting & boring games, with the only likely close games being the 4/5 game (whoever that may be), the 2/3 Keene/Dartmouth semifinal, and than Keene/Dartmouth vs. Eastern in the finals.

7, with all due respect, Eastern is really not a "great team" this year! Dropping the game to Plymouth State disqualified them from that description. The loss to Keene not as much as the Keene/ ECSU rivalry is, IMHO the biggest in the LEC, now that WCSU is not as competitive, and when Keene is focused like they get playing Eastern, they are a very good team. As well, they have proven over the last couple of years, that they are a excellent post season team.  If ECSU win the LEC tournament, and a few games in the NCAA then you might use the terminology! Unfortunately, they have continued to disappoint over the last couple of years, (they lose intensity and last couple of years, key guys seem to come up with injuries in late Feb early March), by losing in the LEC tourney AT HOME!!  However, I would like to comment that Hugh Lindo has been one of the best and most exciting players that I have ever seen at ECSU!!  He is always hustling, plays with incredible intensity, racks up the stats every game, and at the same time is down right entertaining! Geissler Gym is packed with spectators every home game because of HL!!!  Lindo deserves all the accolades he gets this year and he will be sorely missed next year!!
BTW Eastern may vey well get POY and ROY awards this year with Lindo and Gonzales respectively.

[magicman]

Allstar loves his new toy.

I do 

I dropped by today to see if any of your graphics on this board have undergone any changes. I thought maybe you were using disappearing ink, because several of your charts on the SUNYAC board have been replaced with this:

Here's another surprise for you (I'm at it again  )...I figured this would be useful going down the stretch.  The standings as of now:

Everything seems normal over here, so I don't understand why they have been taken down on the YAC board.

[Bengalsrule]

Allstar loves his new toy.

I do 

I dropped by today to see if any of your graphics on this board have undergone any changes. I thought maybe you were using disappearing ink, because several of your charts on the SUNYAC board have been replaced with this:

Here's another surprise for you (I'm at it again  )...I figured this would be useful going down the stretch.  The standings as of now:

Everything seems normal over here, so I don't understand why they have been taken down on the YAC board.

Wow. Just after we said thanks for the Yac "love" then they go and do this to All Stars work?!?!  Watch out buddy.  Your phone might be getting bugged next ( or computer hacked)!!

[AllStar]

Wow. Just after we said thanks for the Yac "love" then they go and do this to All Stars work?!?!  Watch out buddy.  Your phone might be getting bugged next ( or computer hacked)!!

Hmm...well I went and fixed the one (I think that's the only one) that disappeared on the SUNYAC board.  I was having trouble uploading before, but have switched to a different platform and they seem to be working fine.  I certainly didn't make it disappear.  Maybe there's a gremlin out there that doesn't like my experimenting.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern about 5 minutes away from getting their butts handed to them by UMass Dartmouth and with Keene's likely win over WCSU, will result in a 3 way tie in the LEC.
Watching the game was doubly annoying having to listen to a three person announcing crew that was soo one sided in their coverage it was ridiculous.  All instant replays were of UMD plays, UMD never fouled, ECSU fouled everybody, and most of the rest of what they said was BS!!  In the past, I thought Cabrall was a decent objective announcer but he has turned into  one of the biggest homeys in the LEC, superseded only by his sidekicks !!

96-70 blowout, on another brilliant defensive showing by Eastern...WOW

[7express]

Dartmouth beats Eastern, Keene beats Western, Plymouth beat Boston, RIC beat USM.

3 way tie for first with Dartmouth, Eastern & Keene.  Also guarantees the 4 seed will be no better than 7-7 (absolutely pathetic!  Can we just leave the final 5 at home??)  Everything is a mess, so I'll wait until after Wednesday to figure out potential landing spots.  Much easier to figure out with only 4 games to play, than 8 games to play 

[warriorcat]

How do the Little East tiebreakers work?  Obviously head to head is first. Assuming Dartmouth wins out they tie with Eastern if Eastern beats Keene and UM Boston. They would have identical results splitting with Keene and losing to Plymouth. If Keene beats Eastern and then finishes with a win at home against RIC I assume Keene's sweep of Plymouth gives them the #1 seed. 
I have to believe that the # 1 seed has to be a big advantage allowing that team to play at home throughout the tournament, playing one of the bottom five teams and avoiding the other top two teams until the final

[7express]

How do the Little East tiebreakers work?  Obviously head to head is first. Assuming Dartmouth wins out they tie with Eastern if Eastern beats Keene and UM Boston. They would have identical results splitting with Keene and losing to Plymouth. If Keene beats Eastern and then finishes with a win at home against RIC I assume Keene's sweep of Plymouth gives them the #1 seed. 
I have to believe that the # 1 seed has to be a big advantage allowing that team to play at home throughout the tournament, playing one of the bottom five teams and avoiding the other top two teams until the final

Tiebreakers with only 2 teams:
First tiebreaker is head to head
Second tiebreaker is head-to-head results against the conference starting from the top and working down. 
Third tiebreaker I'm not sure, but I think from like post 49 or 51 posted 6 or 7 years ago, someone said it was road victories in conference.  Not sure what's after that, but usually it gets broken by step 2 or at the least step 3.  I know after a while (4 or 5 steps) it's a coin flip.  Happened maybe 4 years ago in Plymouth/Western.  Both teams split with each other with the home team winning, swept Dartmouth, and went winless against everyone else; Plymouth ended up winning on a coin flip.

In tiebreakers involving 3 or more teams:
First tiebreaker is a superior winning percentage of the teams involved in the tiebreaker.  I.e if there is a 3 team tie for first between Team A, team B and team C and team A is 4-0 in the 4 games against teams B & C, they would get taken out, placed first, and then B & C would break their tie using the 2 team tiebreaker mentioned above
Next step like the 2 team tiebreaker is record against the conference starting at the top and working down.  If the 3 team tie for first results in teams A, B & C each going 1-1 in their 2 games against each other, obviously no one has a superior winning percentage, then you compare those 3 results starting at the team in 4th and work it's way down.  If teams A, B & C all went 2-0 against the 4th, & 5th & 6th place teams, but team C went 2-0 against the 7th place team and teams B & A went 1-1, team C would get taken out, placed first, then teams A & B would use the 2 team tiebreaker to break their tie for seeds 2 & 3.
Not sure what the next step is, because usually 3 team ties get broken in 1 of those 2 steps.

[AllStar]

Here's where we stand with just one week left...this is subject to change, of course.

[7express]

How do the Little East tiebreakers work?  Obviously head to head is first. Assuming Dartmouth wins out they tie with Eastern if Eastern beats Keene and UM Boston. They would have identical results splitting with Keene and losing to Plymouth. If Keene beats Eastern and then finishes with a win at home against RIC I assume Keene's sweep of Plymouth gives them the #1 seed. 
I have to believe that the # 1 seed has to be a big advantage allowing that team to play at home throughout the tournament, playing one of the bottom five teams and avoiding the other top two teams until the final

I'll post a couple scenarios to try to help you out warriorcat:
Scenario A: Eastern wins out (vs. Keene, vs. Boston); Dartmouth wins out (vs. Boston @ USM), Keene finishes 1-1 (L @ Eastern, W vs. RIC)
Eastern & Dartmouth finished 1-1 vs. each other, 1-1 vs. Keene, 1-1 vs. Plymouth and 8-0 against everyone else.  IF they do indeed take road wins in breaking a tiebreaker since Dartmouth's loss to Plymouth was at home and Eastern's loss was on the road Dartmouth would win the tiebreaker since they'd finish the LEC road record at 5-2 (losses @ Eastern, @ Keene) while Eastern would be 4-3 (losses @ Keene, @ Dartmouth, @ Plymouth).  So I think Dartmouth would be #1, Eastern #2, Keene would be locked in 3rd

Scenario B:
Keene finishes 1-1 (losing to Eastern), Eastern finishes 1-1 (losing to Boston), Dartmouth finishes 0-2
Keene & Eastern would be 1-1 against each other & 1-1 vs. Dartmouth.  The it depends the order of Boston, USM, RIC & Plymouth finish.  Both were 2-0 against Western, so their placement doesn't matter, but while Keene went 2-0 against Plymouth & Boston, Eastern would be 1-1 against them.  Likewise Eastern would be 2-0 against USM & RIC while Keene finished 1-1.  If RIC OR USM finished higher in the standings than Eastern would win the tiebreaker and Keene would be second.  IF Boston OR Plymouth finished higher in the standings (which is likelier to happen) than Keene would win the tiebreaker and Eastern would finish 2nd.  Dartmouth would be locked into 3rd in this scenario as the LOWEST ANY of Keene, Dartmouth, Eastern can finish is 3rd.
Scenario C:
Keene finishes 1-1 (losing to RIC), Eastern finishes 1-1 (losing to Keene), Dartmouth finishes 1-1 (doesn't matter who they lose to, see below)
Keene would have a 75% winning percentage (3-1) in the common games: 2-0 vs. eastern & 1-1 vs. Dartmouth while Dartmouth would be at 50% (1-1 against each) and Eastern would be at 25% (1-4).  Keene would get taken out and placed first since they have the superior winning percentage in the common games of the tied teams, then you break the 2 team tie between Eastern & Dartmouth.  Dartmouth would be 1-1 (50%) against Keene while Eastern would be at 0% (0-2) against Keene, so Dartmouth would be seeded 2nd & Eastern seeded 3rd.
Scenario D:
Keene finishes 1-1 (losing to Eastern), Eastern finishes 1-1 (losing to Boston), Dartmouth finishes 1-1 (losing to Boston)
Keene, Eastern, Dartmouth would be 1-1 in 2 games against each other so can't use the superior winning percentage.  Eastern & Dartmouth would both have a loss to Plymouth AND Boston, so no matter whether the conference uses results with tied opponents or whether they place teams and then use the results it wouldn't matter as Keene would be 2-0 against Boston & Plymouth and hence would win the tiebreaker anyways.  So, they'd be #1, Dartmouth would be #2 and Eastern would be #3; Dartmouth would win the tiebreaker due to a better road record (5-2) compared to Eastern's (4-3) road record. 
Note:
Even if Dartmouth beats Boston & loses to USM it wouldn't change the seeding: Keene would still win the tiebreaker (they'd be 2-0 vs Plymouth with both Eastern & Dartmouth being 1-1) so take them out and leave them #1, and Dartmouth would win the 2 team tiebreaker with Eastern (they'd be 2-0 against Boston, while Eastern was 1-1).

Hopefully this helped clear things up a little warriorcat and anyone else reading and wasn't TOO confusing